Six Survivors
by TayMarBooks
Summary: This is a book that I am currently working on and would love to have some feed back. I hope you like it
1. Chapter 1

My machine vibrates softly against my palm. I grab it tighter, adding the last touches to the piece I've been working on for four hours. The black ink and red blood seep through my clients pale skin. I wipe them away and ease my foot off the pedal that controls the power to get a good look at my art.

The tattoo is flawless in its design. A crimson burst highlights the back ground perfectly. My heart swells. Another beautiful master piece came from deep inside me. I am still capable of tapping into the art within. A smile meant only for me stretches across my face.

Tattooing isn't just a job or a hobby. It is an intimate, emotional, and powerful thing to be marking someone for life. Almost like giving over a part of yourself. I am tied to the art in blood and ink, a part of me to be admired by countless others or to be hidden and savored only by the wearer. I was destined for this. It has been my salvation and my redemption from a past that would have destroyed the beauty waiting to be unchained from deep within me.

I reach for my spray bottle of antiseptic, giving the area a quick sprits and drying it carefully with a clean paper towel.

"That is the shit!" My customer grins and I half expect him to bounce up and down like a happy child. A swarm of mermaids wrap up his bicep. It's fitting seeing as his shipping crew spent the longest time out at sea these days. He swivels his arm back and forth.

"There is a mirror on the back wall," I say indicating the area over my shoulder. He stands to get a full glimpse, while I inspect my work from a distance. My lips curl up again when I see it is about as perfect as possible. "Carmella at the front desk will go over all the care instructions." I stand to wrap the tattoo in plastic wrap. He slips his shirt on while walking out to the reception area.

Now that I could relax, my fingers literally throb with the last few hours of work. The stick to the latex in the gloves, slick with sweat. I roll my stiff neck from side to side. Unfortunately my euphoric state of mind that my work brings doesn't transcend to my physical being. You have to know your body's limit and four hours was mine.

As I organize my area, the shop around me comes alive. When lost in my own world of skin and ink, the sounds of the world seem to cancel out. When I finish, they flood back and I'm ripped away from my escape. But if I had to be torn away from the passion that feeds my soul, other than owning my own shop, this is the place to be.

I throw away the plastic baggies that cover my equipment from being saturated in blood, plasma, and ink mist. Beginning my mental check list meticulously followed after every tattoo, I dispose of the tubes and ink caps before placing my needle in an empty water jug. My area now only needed to be wiped down with a strong almost skin removing antibacterial agent to be ready for my next client. Thankfully that was the last one for the night. I glanced up to check the time. 10:00 p.m. I was going to be late.

I grabbed my leather jacket from behind the door. Under the jacket I had hung up my blade belt. Customers tend to get jumpy when have weapons that big out in plain view. Two Bowie knives hung at my hips in black sheaths to blend in with the pants. I strapped them to my thighs so they wouldn't flap around. Three throwing knives were hidden in each boot. You never know what or who was waiting for you.

Carmella was in the front room waiting for me.

"Amaya, those mermaids were killing it!" Carmella LaGrange was a twenty something blond with profile similar to that famous lady from back when things were good. Marilyn something. Her blond hair was short, just above her shoulders with curls that bounced at every move. Forrest green eyes looked at you from behind cat-eye glasses that hid the fact that she wore way too much makeup. She was naturally pretty. Genes. I would envy her more if it weren't for her body. When she bent to touch her toes, her breast hit the floor before her finger tips.

"Thanks Mel." I loved having my work appreciated. She wouldn't let me do anything on her. Something about traditions in her family. "Come on. We are going to be late for the meeting." I headed for the door as I cut the over head lights.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Mel walked beside me, her shoes clicking on the broken pavement. The street lamps lighting our way, the solar panels buzzing. The tall rusted out bones of buildings from Before stretched up on either side of us. A part of me always found them almost beautiful in the darkness with moon light shining through the cracks and windows. I had seen pictures of the Before. The time before the great earth quake.

Forty years ago a giant earth quake rocked the whole world. My parents told me stories. It was a normal day. They lived in a small town which is the only thing that saved them. Alarms started going off for warnings. With all the tools the government had, they couldn't give them more than two minutes. It hit. Islands and people were swallowed by the ocean; islands that were lost for what anyone knew could be forever. Volcanoes erupted that hadn't yet gone dormant. Cities crumbled to the ground. Cracks opened in the earth. After about a day, the electric grid shut down completely. A few nuclear plants leaked and destroyed the land, animals, and people around them.

The first count was over two million dead. People started going hungry and getting sick. More people died. One man came up with the idea to broadcast himself over the radios and tell people to follow him. The ones who could hear him went. He promised life. A new start. He got his wish. He became our un-challenged leader. Or for some of us, tyrant.

"Earth to Amaya? You in there?" Mel was looking sideways at me. She was the only one who ever noticed when I was lost.

"Sorry. I was off in my own world." I grinned at her. I was tired and really didn't want to go to the meeting but Zane didn't give much notice before one and he didn't give options on attendance. We were less than a block away from the meeting place.

"I knew you weren't paying attention when you didn't say anything about that little urchin hiding behind the dumpster." She spat on the ground. She couldn't believe anyone would bring a child into this poor excuse for a world. I just shrugged. I was not in the mood for this conversation.

We rounded the corner and Cookies was right across the street. The lights were set on flash because of how much solar power they used up. Cookies was the only bar in town that didn't have to barter up north for the beer or liquor. Cookie made his own. He also had the best burgers in town. I didn't eat them because he wouldn't tell me what the meat was. I'm funny like that.

We opened the door and the familiar everything hit me like a wave. Cookie said he had owned the place before he was even allowed to drink. H never told me how old he was but he was the oldest person I knew. Kid Willy told me once he was in his late 70s and that it why he was so good at everything. A pool table sat to the right away from tables next to what was called a juke box. As a teen i loved messing with it a listening to music. Cookie was behind the bar.

Cookie was tall and thin. He had a head full of long white hair and a mustache that was a grey and tickled over the top of his lip. He spoke real smooth and I could listen all day. He said he grew up in a state called Texas and that he came to what was known as North Carolina and got stuck here when the earth quake hit.

"Hello there my darlin' and my beauty." He was cleaning a glass and placing it on a shelf. Mel was the beauty and I was the darlin. I didn't take offence.

"Hey Cooke." Mel smiled and kept on walking to the back. She would be out in exactly five minutes to order food.

"Hey Cookie," I slid onto a bar stool. "I wish I could show you what I did today." Cookie always loved to see my art. He had one on his arm that had faded out into an almost blob.

"Oh I done seen what that salty headed fool had to show. He came in here about an hour ago to show it off to a few of the regulars." By regulars he meant the twenty or so people who actually lived in the area on a regular bases. Most people worked out at sea or more inland and came into town only for a few weeks at a time. "But you did good. If i had ever had any younguns' I would hope they had talent like you." He grinned. I smiled as he slid what he called Wild Strawberry Wine across the bar. He knew it was my favorite.

Right on time Mel came out and leaned on the bar.

"Zane is waiting on you Maya." She rolled her eyes as she used Zane's nickname for me. She wanted that man some kind of bad but she wouldn't let herself give in to him. I raised my brows and Cookie and grabbed my drink as a headed to the back.


End file.
